Ultimate Tournament
by Naz Delphiki
Summary: The greatest warriors of the Nintendo Universe are being gathered for an ultimate tournament: The Super Smash Brothers Melee!
1. The Gathering

Disclaimer: I do not own SSBM, or any of the characters or items associated with it.

Ultimate Tournament

Chapter 1

Green alien guts and blood were smeared all over Samus's visor, severely clouding her vision. A large screech echoed through the control room of this invaded space station, which originated from the large moth-like creature she had been fighting seconds earlier. Panicking, Samus initiated her Ice Missile, and launched three wild shots in different directions. The screeching stopped, which could only mean that she hit the creature. 

Some water ran down her visor, allowing her to see again. An immediate feeling of accomplishment overwhelmed her as she looked at the motionless moth lying on the ground, covered in ice. Her mission was complete. All she had to do now was return to the Federation HQ. But this task would not be as easy as she had thought. 

Seemingly for no reason, all the lights in the room went out. A few moments later, some red lights began flashing. A voice then echoed throughout the room, apparently from some speaker. 

"Core failure… core failure… emergency lock-down and self-destruct sequences activated…" 

The message kept repeating itself. Samus was utterly confused at first, not knowing what had just happened, and then looked over toward the center of the room. A horrified look spread across her face. The core was covered in ice, which was obviously from her missile. 

"Twenty-five seconds to detonation," echoed the voice.

Samus looked over at the elevator that was going to lead her up to her ship, but saw no resolution there, for the auxiliary power didn't power the elevators.

"Twenty seconds to detonation"

She looked desperately around the room for some means of escape to the outer deck of the station at least, and found it on the other side of a doorway, which had a rapidly closing metal door descending in it, one that Samus would not be able to bust open. She began furiously dashing toward it.

"Fifteen seconds to detonation"

When she had almost reached the door, she noticed it was so far down it would be impossible for her to even dive under it. There was only one solution. She morphed into a compact ball and rolled right under the door, which closed a split-second later. She morphed back to normal and surveyed the area. To her luck, there was an alien escape pod waiting for her, about twenty yards away. She began dashing toward it. 

"Ten seconds to detonation," the voice could still be heard saying, even from outside. 

She reached the pod, and jumped in, closing the roof over her. She quickly surveyed the control panel. She found the _launch_ button, and pushed it.

"Five…"

The ship's jet boosters began firing up, and getting ready to go at full power.

"Four…"

The ship began to hover off of the ground.

"Three…"

The jets took position in the back of the pod.

"Two…"

They began getting very fired up.

"One…"

With a large explosion-like "Boom," the jets released a large flame, and the pod launched itself away from the station.

"Zero. Self-destruct active."

The space pod had just escaped the vicinity as the space station began imploding, then exploding, hurling large chunks of metal and other heaps of scrap and junk into space. Luckily, none of them hit the pod. Samus sat back in her seat, relieved. 

But her peace was soon interrupted by an odd transmission. All it said was "You have been chosen to participate in the greatest tournament of all time… the Super Smash Brothers Melee!" And with this, the pod's destination coordinates were re-programmed, to that of some unknown planet. 

"What the hell?" Samus whispered to herself as she tried to fix it, but she had no luck. She just sat back once more, and let the pod guide her to the new destination…

***

But it wasn't just Samus receiving this odd message; all of the greatest heroes and villains of the Nintendo universe were receiving it, and all being gathered to this odd planet, the planet of Smashnor.

At first, when everyone had just arrived, there was much chaos. Nobody had any idea what was going on, and all there was was great confusion. When odd, purple, polygon-like creatures began taking them to hotel suites, one-by-one, the confusion just mounted. Finally, after a few weeks of this, everyone was gathered to a very large stadium in the middle of a desert. 

When they arrived, fights broke out between bitter old rivals, but were quickly dissipated by the polygon creatures. After a few more hours of waiting, all of the lights in the stadium went out, and something odd happened. Something white began rising out of the middle of the podium they were all gathered in front of, something that looked like a… glove? Yes, it was a glove. Everyone stared at it with puzzled looks on their faces. They all thought it was a big practical joke of sorts, until it moved. First a finger, then another, and soon the thing jumped up and began hovering in midair. 

Everyone was shocked for a moment, then became even more shocked when it spoke.

"Welcome warriors," it said "to the greatest tournament of all time! The Super Smash Brothers Melee! You've all been gathered here because you are the greatest, the best of the best!" Everyone in the crowd was too shocked to speak. The hand moved around slightly, giving the impression it was eyeing them carefully. It laughed to itself. "I suppose you all want an explanation of _exactly_ why you are here. Well, I suppose I could at least say that."

It paused a few moments, as if preparing for its speech. "My name is Master Hand. Many years I have resided on this planet. I'm not sure how or why I was created, but that is irrelevant. After a while, I discovered that I had amazing power, and fighting ability. I wanted to use this to my advantage. So I began gathering many warriors…" he was cut off. 

"You mean kidnapping?!" rang a rather high-pitched female voice throughout the stadium. 

Master Hand quickly turned toward her, his arms (which were really just fingers) tensed up. "Princess Peach," he growled menacingly "please do not interrupt me while I am speaking." Peach looked at him with a small hint of fear in her eyes, and nodded. Master Hand continued. "Like I said, I began gathering many warriors, from many different universes and planets. My first challenger was a proud Saiyan prince, who I believe went by the name of Vegita. He put up a good fight and all, but I still defeated him, no problem. He was the first of my collection." 

Confused looks spread across the faces of the people of the crowd. "What do you mean… collection?" asked an almost nasal-like voice, coming from a plumber wearing green garments. 

Master Hand chuckled to himself. "I haven't shown you yet, have I?" He chuckled again, and motioned to a polygon creature standing behind a computer system, that probably controlled the stadium's features. It nodded, and the walls that blocked where people normally sat in a stadium rose, and the lights there came on. Once they had a good look at what was there, they all stood there petrified.

"These are my trophies, the souls of those who have lost to me." 

"If we lose," said a fearful voice of a swordsman with long blue hair "at this tournament, will we become one of those?" Master hand made a motion that appeared to be a nod, and many people in the crowd became horrorstruck. 

After a few minutes more of silence, a pilot-looking man spoke up, in a very cocky voice. "And what if we refuse to participate in this tournament of yours? What'll you do then? We could easily escape this stadium, and you know it!" 

There was a brief moment of silence, one that seemed like hours to the crowd. Finally, Master Hand broke the silence with a soft chuckle, one that soon turned into a rather maniacal laugh. "You think you can escape, huh?" He said very cockily. "Have a look outside," he said, opening a large hole in the stadium. There were purple polygon creatures as far as the eye could see, and all were heavily armed and prepared to fight. "As you can see, I have taken precautions to prevent this from happening. You can't escape, so don't bother killing yourselves trying."

An odd and impossible to understand voice then rang throughout the now silent stadium. "Pika, pi pikachuchu pikachu?" Only a few there (other pokemon) could understand this yellow mouse's words. Surprisingly, Master Hand did as well. 

"What are you getting out of this, you ask? Heh. More than you think. I am a very fair person. As I am looking for a challenge, finding that would make me happy. And to make you happy, and more willing to fight, I have decided that if by some small chance you defeat me, you can have the prize of all prizes… Immortality!" 

Everyone in the crowd fell silent (again). _Perhaps this **is** worth it, _many thought to themselves. Master Hand spoke again "And you also get one more thing, my most prized possession." Everyone knew what he was talking about. "You get my trophy collection. And you will be free to do whatever you want with it. You could keep the trophies to yourselves, share them with others, and even break them to release the souls, if you wish. I don't care. Anyway; it's getting late. I will now explain the rules of this tournament, which I'm sure you are all very curious about. This will be a single-elimination, one-on-one, fight to the death tournament. If you defeat your opponent, which can be achieved by killing them or knocking them off of the fighting area into oblivion, you will move on. If you die, you will become a trophy, and will get a place in my collection. After one of you has defeated everyone else, you will face me in a duel of skill and power. Now, I bid you all a goodnight, and farewell. Next time you see me, there will only be one of you, and we will not be on such friendly terms. I have posted the match-ups and fighting arenas, which simulate your homes, on a billboard over there," he said, motioning to the large billboard erected a few yards to his left. And with this, he vanished. 

After checking the billboard, everyone quickly went to bed. They not only needed time to sort all of this out; they also had to enjoy this night's sleep, being it could be their last…

****

Round 1

Mario vs. Captain Falcon ~Hyrule Temple

Falco vs. Peach ~Jungle Japes

Link vs. Samus ~Icicle Mountain

Crono vs. Yoshi ~Pokemon Stadium

Donkey Kong vs. Mewtwo ~Corneria

Ness vs. Bowser ~Brinstar

Luigi vs. Isaac ~Princess Peach's Castle

Ganondorf vs. Roy ~Emerald Hill

Dr. Mario vs. Zelda ~Flat Zone

Fox vs. Ice Climbers ~Fourside

Kirby vs. Pikachu ~Mushroom Kingdom

Jigglypuff vs. Mr. Game and Watch ~Fountain of Dreams

Skull Kid vs. Marth ~Poke Floats

Daisy vs. Waluigi ~Big Blue

Baby Bowser vs. Donkey Kong Jr. ~Venom

King K. Rool vs. Shadow ~Green Greens


	2. Mario vs. Captain Falcon

It was the day after the meeting with Master Hand. Everyone who had attended the meeting had just stayed and slept at the stadium. That morning, when they awoke, a polygon creature was waiting for them on the podium. Once everyone was awake, he took the microphone and put it up to his mouth, or at least where his mouth should be. 

"Calling all warriors!" he started "Today the Super Smash Brothers Melee begins. I need Mario and Captain Falcon to report to the teleportation pads to warp to their battle location." Mario and Captain Falcon emerged from the crowd and walked up to the podium. They exchanged glares and then looked at the polygon creature. 

"Where we headed purple man?" Captain Falcon rudely asked the polygon creature. The polygon creature looked at him blankly and relplied.

"To the Hyrule Temple." This caught Link's attention, and he ran up to the podium. 

"Let me go!" Link demanded. 

"I am sorry," replied the polygon creature "But Mario and Captain Falcon are the only ones allowed to go to that location. You can watch from a screen we will provide to you all in just a few moments. Link gave the polygon creature a glare and jumped off the podium. 

The polygon creature flipped a switch and Falcon and Mario de-materialized into a bright green color. Then the color was gone as quickly as it appeared, and the teleporting pads moved slowly into the podium floor. The polygon creature then moved over to a control panel and pushed a button, and a large, flat screen began sliding down from the roof. It was soon fully visible. With this, the polygon man disintegrated.

On the screen, it showed the large temple, and Mario and Falcon re-materializing on opposite ends. But they were both still trapped inside their teleportation pods. A countdown then began on the screen. It first showed a giant 3, 2, 1, and after the 1 a large "Go" appeared, and Mario and Falcon were released from the pods. The fight had begun.

Falcon began by dashing towards Mario as fast as he could. But Mario didn't move. He was patiently waiting for Falcon to reach him. Falcon jumped over the obstacles in his way, and finally jumped over the ledge that was separating him from Mario. He landed right in front of Mario, and then immediately jumped up again. Mario still hadn't moved, all he was doing was watching Falcon patiently, waiting for the right time to make his move. Falcon performed a front flip to show off, and then he yelled out to Mario for the first time.

"Time ta die plumma! Falcon Kick!" he shouted. And at that Falcon caught fire, and prepared to launch himself at Mario. Mario finally smiled, and shouted at Falcon.

"Take this!" he shouted, and then he ripped his cape off of his back, and threw it straight into Falcon's 

face. This threw Falcon's concentration off, and Mario took this moment of confusion to make his move. He jumped up and started to perform his "Mario Tornado" attack. He began to spin very rapidly, with his arms stretched out. On every quick spin, Mario punched the side of Falcon's head. After about ten spins, Mario stopped and landed on the exact spot he had landed on. Falcon fell to the ground head first, making a loud *thump* noise. 

Falcon began to stand up, and ripped Mario's now bloody cape off of his face. He looked up at Mario. His face was badly bruised up, and his nose was violently bleeding. His look quickly turned to a glare, and he fixed his eyes on Mario's. 

"You'll pay for that ya damn plummer." Falcon angrily said through a clenched jaw. "You'll regret injuring me!" Very quickly, Falcon's fist caught fire and he hit Mario, dead center in the forehead. This sent Mario flying about twenty feet. Mario got up and rubbed his forehead, which now had severe burns on it. Falcon laughed and shouted over to Mario. 

So how'd ya like my Raptor Boost? Hahaha! Don't worry though, there's plenty more where that came from!" At that, Falcon began to dash at Mario again, faster than before. Mario braced himself for an attack by putting his fists in front of him. Once close enough, Falcon jumped up into the air once again. Mario took this as his cue. His right hand began to glow, and he jumped up at Falcon, with his right arm outstretched in front of him. 

"I don't think so plumma" Falcon said cockily, and he drew his fist back, and let it catch fire. But unexpectedly, Mario picked up speed and landed his fist on Falcon's belly- very hard. Falcon's head quickly flew forward, and he coughed out some blood on Mario in the process. Mario flipped around and used his feet to kick off of Falcon's chest, allowing him to land gracefully. Falcon on the other hand, landed hard and painfully on a bat that had just appeared out of nowhere. Mario began laughing hysterically in his weird way. 

Falcon got up, slowly, and looked at what he had landed on. It was a large wooden baseball bat with grooves on its end. Falcon picked it up and started limping towards Mario, who was still laughing. Mario finally stopped laughing, once Falcon was within arm length of him. Mario then noticed the bat Falcon was holding, and his eyes grew wide open. Falcon reared back, to get ready to swing. Mario started his jump out of the way, but it was too late. 

Falcon swung the bat as hard as he possibly could, and hit Mario on the side of his knee. This caused a sickening *crack* noise from Mario's leg. Mario hit the ground hard and he began to hold his leg, in pain. Falcon looked at him, and saw the bloody bone sticking out of his leg. Mario kept screaming out in pain, while he held his leg. Falcon smiled and looked at Mario. 

"Hehehe," Falcon laughed." Time to die, plumma!" With this, Falcon raised his fist and let it catch fire. "Falcon Punch!" He then took his flaming fist and nailed Mario through the ground. Falcon took a deep breath of relief, and looked through the hole. There lie Mario's lifeless body on the platform under him. A few moments later Falcon was teleported back to the stadium. 

He was teleported onto the telepad, standing up. He took a look at everybody, and then collapsed. Three polygon creatures picked him up and dragged him off to a dark room, probably the medical room. The screen that had shown the fight was now flashing the words "Captain Falcon Advances!" But the eyes of the crowd were not fixed on the screen. They were fixed on Bowser, who was punching the ground repetitively. He also kept shouting out in anger. 

"Why did he get Mario? He was mine! How did he do it?!" were the things he kept shouting. A few minutes later, a polygon creature walked up to the microphone to announce the next battle. 


	3. Falco vs. Peach

The polygon creature walked up to the microphone to announce the next match. It was going to be difficult to announce the match over Bowser's wails. 

"Will Falco and Peach please report to the telepads for the next match? Just come up the stairs on the sides of the podium." The polygon creature left the microphone and opened the doors on the telepads. Falco strutted up the stairs fearlessly, as if he were sure he would win. He walked into the telepad, crossed his arms, and winked at Zelda. After a few minutes, there was still no sign of Peach. The polygon creature walked back up to the microphone to speak again. "Will Peach please report to the telepods?" The creature waited for about another thirty seconds, and then spoke again. "Peach if you do not report to the podium in the next thirty seconds, you will be disqualified from the match." A few seconds later, a pouting Peach walked up, looking like she had just been run over by a truck. The polygon creature ignored her appearance and just walked over to the control panel on the podium. Peach kept muttering words to herself while she cried.

"Mario, why did you have to go?" and " It's not fair." were the most common of the words she muttered. She finally pulled herself together and stepped on the telepad. A few minutes passed, and then Falco and Peach were teleported to the area known as "Jungle Japes". Falco and Peach appeared on small opposite platforms, and in the middle was a larger platform that had a barrel on it. 

"3" As the countdown began, Falco changed into a dashing position, and Peach tried to dry off her tears with her dress. "2" Falco looked at Peach, who was still drying her face off. "1" Peach stopped drying her face and got into her fighting stance. "GO!" Falco started dashing towards Peach. He jumped onto the middle platform and prepared to jump over the barrel. Peach looked over at Falco, and pulled out an umbrella. She jumped up and began gliding toward Falco using it. When she was above him, Falco smiled and pulled out his laser gun. He shot her umbrella, piercing a hole in it. 

Peach screamed as she fell to the ground. Falco rolled out of the way, and Peach landed hard on the barrel. The impact broke the barrel, which caused a ball with a red top and white bottom, a pokeball, to fly out, landing right at Falco. Peach stood up, holding her back as she did. Falco picked up ball, and threw it at Peach. It landed at her feet, and light rays began to emerge from the now opening crack in the middle of the ball. It finally was opened all the way, and a fish with a large red body and vacant eyes. It started flopping around, making strange noises. 

"Carp Carp Magikarp!" It said in a retarded voice, and then it flopped off the platform into the raging river, where it was washed away. 

"Okaaaaaaaaaaaay." Peach said while she watched the Magikarp get washed away. Falco shook his head annoyed and prepared to fight again. Peach pulled out a tennis racket and waited for Falco to come to her. He started running at her with one fist held back. Once he was close enough, he launched his fist forward at Peach. But Peach put her tennis racket in front of her to block the punch. Falco put his fist through the racket. 

"You little slut!" Falco stated as he looked at his now bloody knuckles. Peach looked at him with her meanest, toughest looking face (which really wasn't that tough at all).

"Nobody calls me a slut!" she yelled back at him, and she pulled out a golf club. She pulled it back, preparing to swing it. Falco was still focused on his sore knuckles, and didn't notice the gold club until it was way too late. It was swung in an upward motion, directly at Falco's beak. The club hit the beak, hard. The force from the swing made Falco fly backward with his beak in the air. He landed on the platform he had started on, very close to the side of it, so close that a slight gust of wind could push him off. Falco rubbed his beak, which felt strange. He looked at it and noticed it was very bloody, and it also had a large crack in it, which was most likely the source of the blood. He stood up and looked over at Peach, who was now magically floating towards him.

"Now youth gone and pithed me oth you thlut." Falco stated with his broken broken beak, which would explain the strange way of speaking. "You'll pay for it with your life too." With this, Falco engulfed himself in a fire ring. Peach looked at him confused, but continued floating towards him. A few moments later, Falco shouted loudly and launched himself at Peach with his arms and fists outstretched. Peach, who was not expecting an attack so soon after she injured his beak, was caught off guard. He hit her dead on on her torso, and sent her flying back a few yards. She landed hard on the wood platform in the middle, so hard that where her body hit, a large crack was made. 

Peach moaned out in pain and tried to start standing up. But before she had the chance to get up, Falco dashed over her at light speed, leaving a long and deep gash in her belly area. She fell back down into the crack, and her head fell back. Falco just gave off a cocky smile and looked at Peach.

"You thouldn't hath methed with me." He stated as he walked toward her. Once he was in arm"s length of her, he lifted his leg. He sighed and stomped down on her. This was enough to send Peach through the crack into the raging river. She was quickly washed away by the current, and was sent off a waterfall, never to be seen again. But the good side to this was that she could see Mario again, so maybe it was for the better. 

Falco was teleported back to the stadium podium, where a few polygon creatures rushed him into the medical room. Captain Falcon had been returned to the crowd during the match, in perfect condition. This made the other warriors mad, because they had a hard time watching the fight with thick headed Captain Falcon bragging about his match. Link was ready to cut his head off with his sword, but Zelda convinced him not to, although it was hard for her to, the being she wanted to do it as well. 

The words "Falco wins" kept flashing across the large screen, as a polygon creature walked up to the podium to announce the next battle. 


	4. Link vs. Samus

The polygon creature tapped the microphone to make sure it was on, and then began to speak. "Will Link and Samus please report to the podium for the next match? You will be transported to the Icicle Mountain, a very dangerous and frigid location." The Ice Climbers, Nana and Popo, looked at each other with a homesick look in their eyes. They knew it was only a copy of the location, but they still longed to go there. 

Samus walked up to the podium, very coldly walking past the other contestants. She stepped onto the telepad, and waited to be teleported. Link started to walk up to the podium, but was stopped by someone who grabbed his arm. He turned around and saw Zelda standing there with big eyes, that had tears in them. She stared into his eyes with hers, and the tears began to run down her face.

"Don't die. Okay?" Zelda choked these words out, trying hard not to start completely breaking out in tears. 

"Don't worry," Link started, "I'll defeat her, and come back alive." He smiled. With this Zelda hugged him, looked at him again, and walked away with her head pointed to the ground, so no one else could see her cry. 

Link walked up to the podium and stepped up on his telepad. He looked over to Samus with a very determined look in his eyes. She looked back at him, but he could only see her helmet. But on the inside, Samus looked at him rather worried. She had heard of Link, and his great adventures, not to mention what a great warrior he was. But Samus had enough determination to try her best. She figured she could win, but it would not be easy. Link felt the same, and he also figured it would be a difficult battle. They were then teleported to the Icicle Mountain. 

As the two fighters appeared at the location, they looked around, as did the other warriors watching from the stadium, especially the Ice Climbers. It was a very tall mountain covered in snow, so tall that you could not see the top of it. There were also many walkways and bridges to connect different parts of it. Many large polar bears were walking around on the bridges, and lots of ice chunks were sliding around. 

The countdown began, and three seconds later the fight began. Link and Samus appeared on a bridge, on opposing ends. As soon as the fight began, the two began dashing towards each other with great speed. Link drew his sword, and was planning on ramming it into Samus when she was close enough. But instead of continuing her run toward Link, Samus jumped over Link while doing a flip. Link tried to jump up at her with his sword when she was directly above him, but Samus had other plans. She pulled a bomb out of her suit's pocket, and dropped it on the vertically jumping Link. His eyes bulged as he saw the bomb falling right down on him. It nailed him dead on right on his chest. It caused a small sized explosion, but it was enough to send Link flying a good distance, and give him some pain. 

Link landed face first in the cold snow, which luckily broke his fall. He very slowly stood up, and it was very difficult for him, because he was in a great deal of pain. He looked over at Samus, and she launched a laser chain his direction, and it wrapped around his feet. She then gave a large tug, which pulled Link down again. If not for the soft snow breaking his fall, he probably would have cracked his head open. She then swung the chain over her head towards the ground on the opposite side of her, which caused Link to follow, and hit the snow, again. Samus continued to swing Link around, until he stopped struggling. 

She then retracted her chain and walked over to Link. Shaking her head, she looked down at Link. "I thought you would be a much greater challenge kid. No matter, it ends now." 

But all of a sudden, there was an intense shake. Samus looked around, and saw the mountain crumbling down under her. Samus was used to this sort of thing, but she was still a bit worried. She jumped up to the bridge above her, and then jumped up to a small snow covered cliff.

Link just lied there, with his eyes closed, trying to fight off the pain. He didn't even realize the entire mountain was crumbling down around him. He was in much pain, and was very scarred up. But then, for no reason, snow began to fall. A light flake touched Links closed and bloody eye, which caused him to slowly open it. And like an angel reaching down from heaven, a heart container fell down from the sky, and landed on Link. And miraculously, all of his wounds healed, his blood disappeared, and his strength came back to him. He felt like he had been reborn, revived from an utter death. 

He stood up and swung his sword. He quickly noticed the mountain crumbling, and figured he should reach higher ground quickly, so he jumped up to the same bridge Samus had. He looked over at Samus and gave her a wide grin. He saw the shocked movements her body was making, being that he couldn't see her face, which also had a shocked look on it. She couldn't imagine how he had been healed, she severely injured him, and now he was in perfect condition. 

But she did not have much more time to think, because where she was standing began to crumble. The two started jumping up the platforms, and the mountain under them began to crumble away more and more rapidly. This continued for at least another five minutes, and then it just abruptly stopped. The two warriors looked at the ground under them, and it made no signs of crumbling. 

They decided that it was now safe to continue fighting, so they did. Samus tried to catch Link off guard by launching her chain at him again, but Link noticed and used his sword to chop the chain in half. He then decided it was time to end the battle. He jumped very high over Samus, and prepared to perform a wall jump off of the cliff behind Samus. She realized what he was doing, and she quickly turned around. He hit the cliff wall, and Samus launched a large laser sphere at him, but was too late. He had already launched himself off the wall before the sphere reached him, and the ball instead hit the cliff and caused a large crack to appear in the cliff.

Link landed on his feet behind her, and he drew his sword. She turned around to see Link jabbing his sword through her armor and body, right in the gut. She looked down at the sword in her belly. It was stained red with blood, and more blood was pouring from her wound. She then looked up at Link, who had a solemn look on his face. He then looked up to see that where Samus had shot the cliff a large piece of it was about to fall down. 

Link looked at Samus's eyes through her visor. "I'm sorry." Upon saying this, he withdrew his sword from her and jumped away to a different platform. Samus placed her hands over the wound on her belly, and looked up at the now falling snowy boulder. It landed right behind her, and cracked the platform she was standing on off the cliff it was connected to, sending it and her into oblivion. 

Link was teleported back to stadium, and was greeted with a hug from Zelda. "I thought you were a goner!" She said while clearing the tears in her eyes. Link just smiled and reassured her he was okay, as they walked back down into the crowd. Falco wasn't there yet, the medical team was trying to repair his beak. 

The fighters were all talking about the fight, and Falcon had to be separated for making the other warriors mad enough to want to kill him. He would be returned after the next fight. The Polygon creature walked up to the microphone once againg to announce the next battle.

A/N: Sorry that it is taking me so long to update. I've been a bit busy in the past month and I haven't had much time to just sit down and write. Thank you to you all who have read my story and reviewed it, and I appreciate the comments you have given me.


	5. Crono vs Yoshi

A/N: Mr. Showtime, I thank you for your kind reviews, and for putting my story on you favorites list. And I see very well how you think Samus should have won. And I'll tell you; I almost did make her win. I heavily debated over who should win for a few hours, weighing out the pros and cons many times. While Samus my be a bit of a better fighter in the Metroid games than Link is, although Link is a great fighter in his game too, I figured I should stick to how they performed in SSBM, rather than their performance in their respective games, because it would be too hard to decide otherwise. I also saw that some of my reviewers wanted Link to win, even though that had little impact on my decision, but it was probably a deciding factor in the end. So in the end, I had to choose Link to win, simply because I believe he is better in the SSB games, and if I were to judge them by their abilities in their games, Samus may have won the match. And if I were to put it on a percentage scale of votes in my head, it would end up as following.

Link: 50.5

Samus: 49.5

And in this battle, I will have to base Crono's abilities on his own game, for he is not in SSBM, but I will use Yoshi's SSBM stats, for I feel they are better than his actual game stats.

So I hope the last battle was not a disappointment, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy my story, and that goes to all of my other reviewers as well. 

Now for the chapter:

"Will Crono and Yoshi please report to the telepads for the next battle, which will take place at the Pokemon Stadium. Please do not waste any time, we are far behind schedule." The Polygon creature walked over to the control panel, to prepare the teleportation. 

Luigi scratched Yoshi on top of the head before the dinosaur walked up to the podium. He looked around fascinated, like a child in a beautiful and new place, making a rather annoying and high pitched *bum* noise every step. But it was serious about the fight surprisingly, even though it couldn't talk or express his feelings well, Yoshi wanted to avenge the deaths of Mario and Peach. 

Crono quickly walked up to podium, and looked over at Yoshi. He was not the least bit worried, for he had battled, and defeated much larger dinosaurs in his lifetime, not to mention the very large and powerful Lavos, although he had help in that battle. But even though, he was very confident. 

Once the two were on their respective telepads, they were teleported to the Pokemon Stadium. They appeared, and immediately noticed the large screen in the background, showing the entire stadium. Both Crono and Yoshi knew that by looking over at the screen, they would know where the other was, which would prevent any sneak or back attacks. Crono's red and spiky hair was already dripping with sweat. Although he was very confident, he knew that he would still have to perform well, no matter how easy his opponent was. The countdown finished, and the battle began. 

Crono quickly jumped up to the platform above him as his first move, and Yoshi did the same, except to a platform to the opposite of Crono. Yoshi then used his tongue to pick up a half-red and half-white ball, a pokeball. He withdrew it into his mouth, and then launched it over to Crono. And if not for being quick on his feet, Crono would have been hit hard in the head with the ball. 

So instead of hitting him, the ball landed right behind him, and opened with a flash. There appeared a large blue turtle, with hydro cannons sticking out of its shell. It looked at Crono with its bloodthirsty eyes, and lowered its cannons, so they were pointed directly at him. Assuming he knew what was going to happen, Crono dove off of the platform he was standing on immediately, and landed very hard on the marble ground. The turtle creature then launched two large hydro beams forward. And since Crono was not standing there any longer, the hydro blasts went past the first platform, onto Yoshi's platform, and hit him hard, sending him flying off of the battlegrounds. 

Crono slowly stood up, but soon enough to see Yoshi get launched far off of the marble platform. He was very excited, for it looked as though he had an easy victory, one without even lying a hand on his opponent. But unfortunately, he was not so lucky. 

Yoshi started to move his feet as he fell, as though he was running in mid-air. But instead of him just pathetically falling, Yoshi started to move up through the air quickly, and he soon landed on the platform. Crono was absolutely shocked at this, for he was sure he had won. But he did not question the matter any longer, he had no time to be shocked, he had to battle. He drew his katana, and began dashing quickly towards Yoshi with it in front of him. When he was within about six feet of Yoshi, he prepared for a slash attack, but did not have enough time. 

Yoshi stuck out his tongue and wrapped it around Crono's middle torso. Looking at the slimy tongue wrapped around him, Crono not only started to worry, but realized the tongue slime was even more disgusting than chugging five consecutive bowls of puke-tasting poi. The tongue's grip grew tighter, and Yoshi finally withdrew it into his mouth, along with Crono, who was without the katana of his that had been dropped during the withdrawal of the tongue. 

The inside of Yoshi's now very expanded body was surprisingly dry, especially since the tongue was very slimy. So he could slice Yoshi's belly open, Crono tried to draw his sword, but could not find it. He felt around his body and the belly, but finally realized he had dropped it. And then, an acid started to ooze out of the belly's pores, and began to form a shell like material along the inner coating of the stomach, and soon it was surrounding Crono. After the shell-like object was done forming, he could tell that he and the shell, or egg, was sliding out of the belly. 

The egg hit the ground hard, and caused a very loud echo inside which greatly hurt Crono's ears. The now thin Yoshi jumped up to the platform to the left and above of the egg. He then tensed his muscles and jumped up above the egg. He used his special technique to "walk" up mid-air, to get as high above the egg as he possibly could. Crono was still struggling to get out of the egg, but no avail. 

Yoshi then used his unique abilities to come flying down with much force, straight at the egg. Meanwhile, Crono had no idea what was going on outside of the egg, but had the feeling Yoshi was up to something. So Yoshi continued to plunge, and landed on the egg, shattering it, causing pieces to fly in all directions. And not even a split second later, Yoshi finished his plunge, landing on Crono's stomach, very hard. The landing caused Crono's head to fly forward fast, also making him cough up a mouthful of blood, which flew up onto Yoshi's body and head. The pound also caused a large and sharp chunk of the egg to stab all of the way through Crono's leg, which caused blood to start oozing from the sides of the wound. 

Yoshi got off of Crono and looked at him. The dinosaur started doing a little dance of joy, for he thought that Crono was unconscious, and he had won. But he was wrong. 

Crono looked down at his bloody leg, and some blood trickled down his chin. He was in very intense pain, and could barely move. He glanced over at Yoshi, who was still dancing around. The dinosaur thought he had won, and it offended Crono that the dinosaur thought he could be defeated so easily. Crono knew he had only one hope left. He slowly raised his arms into the air, feeling pain every second of the movement. Careful so that Yoshi would not hear him, he began to whisper an incantation, and moved his fingers around a little. The sky then began to grow dark, at least darker than it was already. 

Yoshi noticed the sudden change and looked down at Crono, and all of the blood left his face. There lie an awake Crono, waving his arms around. Panicking, Yoshi picked up the umbrella that had just appeared next to him with his mouth, and prepared to stab Crono with it. But it was too late. A large lightning bolt came down from the sky, very quickly, and right at Crono. But at the very last second, the bolt made a quick direction change, and hit Yoshi, and sent him flying about twelve feet. 

For a few moments, neither of them moved, they just lied there, motionless. Finally, Crono started to stand up, a very painful process for him. Yoshi started to too, but whenever he tried, he felt a sudden and intense shock course throughout his body, and he fell back down. Finally, Crono stood all of the way up, and he began to limp slowly over to Yoshi. Somewhere along the way, he picked up his katana, dripping blood on it as he bent down. He then continued to walk over to Yoshi, who was still trying vigorously to stand up. 

He finally reached the dino, and knew there was only one thing to do, he had to put the dino out of its misery. He slowly raised his blade above his head, and then thrust it downwards, right through Yoshi's neck. He finally withdrew the blade after a few more moments, allowing the lifeless body of Yoshi to fall to the ground. And all of a sudden, Crono dropped his blade, and fell down to the ground. 

He was quickly teleported to back to the stadium, and was immediately placed on a stretcher and brought to the medical emergency room by a couple of oversized polygon creatures. The polygon creature walked up to platform to announce the next battle, and found out the microphone had been turned off, so it walked over to the control panel to turn it back on. 

And in the shadow of the rest of the crowd, Luigi sat with his face buried in his fists. His only and best three friends in the world had died, and he was all alone in the world.


	6. Mewtwo vs Donkey Kong

After fixing the technical error at the control panel, which everyone suspected was the doing of Waluigi, Captain Falcon, or some other person who felt like pulling a prank. But, unknowingly to them, it was the static electricity coming off Mewtwo (who was concentrating hard on his next battle), and that he was releasing this because he was charging up for the battle with Donkey Kong. He wanted immortality as much as everyone else did, for with it, he could really rule the world of Pokemon. 

The polygon creature walked up to the microphone. And surprisingly, you could see the shadow of a smile spread across its face. "This next one should be good." It said, with some actual expression and emotion in its voice. "Master Hand has been waiting for this one. Mewtwo vs. Donkey Kong, at Corneria. Ah yes, mental power against physical power, brains against brawn. Well then, will Mewtwo and Donkey Kong please report to the telepods." 

Everyone was surprised to hear and see the polygon creature show emotion, for they thought the creatures were all mindless slaves of Master Hand. But, many of them noticed the creature that had just announced the battle was more cyber/technological than crystal, like the previous announcers had been. Maybe it was some sort of new model Master Hand had created. But nobody had much time to think about it, for the battle was about to begin. 

Mewtwo floated up the stairs with his eyes closed; he was probably still concentrating hard on the battle. He knew Donkey Kong was not that smart simply by reading his mind, but also knew that the monkey was very strong, and would make a worthy opponent. Donkey Kong, on the other hand, did not seem to be worried at all. He walked heavily up the stairs to the telepods, using his now cup-shaped hands as support. Unfortunately, he put a hole in one of the stairs by putting too much weight on it. Donkey Kong figured that he had defeated K. Rool so many times (and hopefully permanently defeat him later in the tournament) that a cat-like creature with some psychic powers could not be that difficult.

As the two creatures stepped on the telepads, they were instantly de-materialized, then re-materialized on a large flying object. The two looked around as the countdown to the fight began. They were on a narrow aircraft, at opposite ends, and were flying very high above a ruined city. A couple small aircraft were flying around, and shooting laser beams as well. From previous mind readings, Mewtwo concluded this was Star Fox and Falco's ship. A moment later, a loud noise chimed, and signaled the start of the battle. 

Donkey Kong boldly started dashing toward Mewtwo, in a position which left him wide open for an attack. Mewtwo laughed quietly to himself. He stuck one of his arms out and began drawing energy toward it. Donkey Kong still had no idea what was going on. He just kept charging Mewtwo, and finally realized the situation when it was too late. Mewtwo released the now good-sized sphere of energy, and launched it at Donkey Kong. It hit him dead on, and released a large explosion of purple, static-like energy, which caused Donkey Kong to fly back several feet. 

He began to stand up, which was hard, because he still felt the sting from the previous blast. Being stupid, he once again charged Mewtwo with no defensive posture. Mewtwo just laughed, a bit louder this time. 

"You foolish monkey," He said in a low, telekinetic voice. Upon saying this, he launched another purple energy ball at Donkey Kong. This time, however, it hit Donkey Kong in the middle of the face. After sending him flying into an empty crate as well, the blast caused him much pain. But, being the determined fighter he was, Donkey Kong stood up. He rubbed the painful burn marks on his face, and finally prepared himself for attacking, instead of just lunging at his opponent. 

He began flexing his muscles, and seemed to be focusing all his energy on his right fist. Mewtwo just stood there. He figured the monkey was too stupid to be doing anything smart, so he just sat back and waited for what he thought would be a very pathetic and little thought out attack. But he was wrong. 

About three or so minutes of nothing except Donkey Kong's charging occurring, some action started. Donkey Kong began running to Mewtwo again, just as boldly and wide open as he had previously. Mewtwo, expecting another weak, failed attack, carelessly launched yet another small purple sphere at Donkey Kong. But this time it was different. Donkey Kong outstretched his left arm, and batted the sphere away with the back of his hand. Sure it hurt, but he had no time to think of that right now, for his plan had to go perfectly for him to succeed. 

This deflection shocked Mewtwo, and his facial expression showed it. This was good for Donkey Kong. He stopped abruptly, and began to pound on the ground. This caused little waves of ground to flow around the source of impact, and they quickly grew to large waves. The still shocked Mewtwo was flung into the air, and Donkey Kong used this moment to perform the final phase of his plan. He lunged over to Mewtwo, and while in the air, launched his right fist (which was sparkling with energy from the three minute charging) into him, and then rebounded and fell back. 

Donkey Kong beat his chest and let out a roar of happiness for the succeeding of his plan. He 

Looked over at Mewtwo, who was slowly floating out of the crater, which had been created from his painful impact. Donkey Kong was hoping that would be enough to take Mewtwo, but in the back of his mind knew it wouldn't. Mewtwo looked over at Donkey Kong with a very evil-looking glare on his face. 

"You damned monkey. You caused me pain. You will pay!" He yelled this, and his body began to be surrounded by a weird purple aura. Donkey Kong stepped back in fear. After a few more moments, Mewtwo started drawing all of the energy to this hand, which was outstretched above his head. Soon, a very large purple sphere formed, and Mewtwo looked with his evil glare at Donkey Kong. "Take this monkey!" He exclaimed in anger. He then threw the energy sphere with all his might toward Donkey Kong. The ball sped very speedily toward Donkey Kong, and it looked like the monkey was dead meat. But Donkey Kong's brain kicked in, and at the last second, he dodged the sphere. 

It went flying past him, and landed about twenty yards behind him. He looked back, and ducked down, putting his arms over his head. The ball finally landed, and released a very large explosion of energy. In fact, the explosion was so intense and large that it destroyed nearly half of the ship. When Donkey Kong looked behind him, he noticed there were only a couple feet between him and the new edge of the ship. He quickly took a few steps forward, to give himself a more stable position. 

An obviously disappointed Mewtwo floated toward Donkey Kong. They made eye contact. 

"It looks like my large Omega Shadow Ball technique didn't work so well. Perhaps I'll have to beat you down the old fashioned way, you pathetic monkey." Mewtwo started floating more quickly toward Donkey Kong. But now Donkey Kong was angry. He was sick and tired of being called a "stupid" or "pathetic monkey". He tried to launch a large fist at Mewtwo, but was not quick enough. Mewtwo floated around him, dodging the punch. 

Mewtwo then positioned himself for attack behind Donkey Kong, and then fiercely slammed his tail down at the back of Donkey Kong's skull. This caused the monkey to fly forward a bit, and land hard. Seeing how it had succeeded, Mewtwo tried to float down and keep beating down the monkey with his tail. But his plan didn't work as well as he had thought it would. As he prepared to slam his tail down on Donkey Kong, the monkey quickly flipped over and grasped the tail. This caught Mewtwo by surprise. He had thought the monkey was down for a good while. At this time, Donkey Kong used the tail he had a hold of to slam Mewtwo into the ground. This caused the psychic creature much pain. 

Donkey Kong stood up, and continued to slam Mewtwo into the ground all around him. After a few minutes, Mewtwo decided he had had enough. He started to release electrical energy from his now battered and very badly bruised body. This energy quickly became very intense, and it soon began to affect Donkey Kong. The monkey began to feel the intense sting of the energy, and in pain, dropped Mewtwo. A few moments later, both the fighters were lying on the ground in pain. 

Mewtwo was the first to stand up, and noticed he was standing but a few inches from the cracked side of the now quickly descending ship. His blast must have done some real damage. Too bad it couldn't have hit Donkey Kong, he thought. A few moments later, Donkey Kong stood up, and figured it was high time he ended the battle. He picked up the odd bunny hood that had landed next to him, and put it on. Instantly he felt the powers of agility and speed course through him. This is what he needed to deliver the final blow. 

He began to dash very quickly toward Mewtwo, with his shoulder in front of him, with the intentions of tackling and smearing him. But Mewtwo was too smart to fall for this. When Donkey Kong was but a few feet from him, Mewtwo used his unique teleportation powers to teleport out of the way of Donkey Kong's path. The monkey saw the edge right away, but because of the incredible speed he was moving at, he could not stop. He continued moving, and then ran very far off of the edge of the ship. 

Mewtwo, who had just reappeared a few yards above the place he had teleported from, watched as the monkey fell toward the ground, and finally get so small he appeared to disappear. Mewtwo just laughed to himself. While he was enjoying watching Donkey Kong plummet to his death, Mewtwo had more important problems. Because of the blast he used, the ship was but a little ways from hitting the ground, for it had been descending more rapidly in the past few moments. He floated as quickly as he could to the newly appeared telepad, jumped in, and was teleported away from the ship just a few seconds before it crash-landed and exploded into the ground. 

A/N: Jeez, that was the longest chapter yet by far! And to think that this was supposed to be a short chapter. Ah well. 

Mr. Showtime: I'd just like to thank you for sticking up for me, I couldn't have put it better myself. 


	7. Bowser vs Ness

7-18-03 A/N: I have redone and improved (I think… heh) the first chapter of the story. You may want to read it, although nothing at this point in the story is greatly impacted by the few minor changes I made. It will, however, play a bit of a role later. 

An exhausted and badly bruised Mewtwo was taken directly to the hospital wing of the stadium upon his return. Immediately after this, a wire-frame (a seemingly new model of the polygon creatures) walked up to announce the next battle. 

"Bowser and Ness, please report to the telepods immediately," it said like always, then walked over to the control panel to prepare them for departure to Brinstar. 

The large spiky turtle stomped up to the podium and let out a large roar of fury, which appeared to be his way to prep for battle. He stepped onto the pad, and turned to face the deafened crowd. He was about to let out another roar when he saw that Ness was doing yo-yo tricks for the crowd, which seemed at least mildly amused. He seemed to be preparing for an encore, when Bowser yelled over to him with his menacing, almost cocky voice. 

"Hey punk!" he shouted "Get your ass over here so I can tear it apart!" This remark caused Ness to look over in his direction, shooting him a glare of disgust. "Yeah. I'm talking to you big head! Now get over here!" Bowser continued. This only caused Ness's glare to get even more sharp and angry-looking. He put away his yo-yo, and walked over to his telepad, not taking his eyes off Bowser the whole way. A few moments after he stepped onto it they were teleported away. 

When they arrived, they gazed around at the scenery. There were heaps of metal junk everywhere, odd creatures floating and hovering around, pink tentacle things holding up platforms, and as far as the eye could see around the bottom of the platform they were on, there was a yellow acid, which seemed to be randomly lowering and rising. This was dangerous territory they were fighting on. Before they knew it, the countdown was complete, and the fight had begun. 

Ness, determined to get immediate revenge on Bowser for his insulting taunts, dashed toward the large Koopa, and pulled out his yo-yo that he had been doing tricks with earlier. Bowser laughed to himself. "You expect to hurt me with a toy?" he exclaimed in amusement, not aware of the true power Ness had with these "toys." When near enough to make contact, Ness pulled out another yo-yo, and using some odd psychic ability to do so, did a quick back flip, and launched his yo-yos directly at Bowser's eyes. 

The cocky Koopa had not expected this, and being as slow as he was, didn't have time to dodge this assault. He took hard hits in both eyes, which caused him to take a few steps back, put his hands over his eyes, and let out a large roar of pain. But Ness's assault didn't end there. He continued pummeling Bowser with his yo-yo assault, until finally Bowser regained composure, and got over the pain and starry vision in his eyes. He waited until one of the yo-yos missed (Ness was going so fast his accuracy was a bit off), and then launched his counter-attack. He positioned his claws and slashed the string one of the yo-yos was attached to. At the same time he used his other claw to slash the other string. Ness's formerly rather formidable weapons were now just useless strings hanging from his fingers. 

As Ness tried to regroup, Bowser launched an unexpected attack on him, by tensing up a bit, and smashing his shoulder into the kid with all his might. This caused him to fly a good five feet, then slide across the both hard and rough ground another five. Before Ness had a chance to stand up, Bowser rushed over to him at top speed (which wasn't really that fast) and abruptly stopped less than a foot away. He then reached down to the boy and grabbed him around the waist with both hands. His claws sunk into the soft flesh, and little bits of blood oozed out. Then, he brought the boy toward his face, opened his jaws, and viciously sank his teeth into his shoulder, which caused more blood to start seeping out, this time from a different wound. 

All this time Ness had been screaming out over his excruciating pain, and the bite only made him scream and yell louder. After releasing his jaw's grip, Bowser slammed Ness to the ground. He began laughing to himself. 

"Too bad I didn't have a challenge," he said in his usual cocky tone "and that I have to kill a weak little punk like you." This remark made the very much in pain Ness stand up angrily, and glare at Bowser once again. He was fed up with all the remarks. Even though every muscle in his body ached, and he was still bleeding very rapidly, he was preparing to take the offensive. 

Bowser, however, found this amusing. He looked at Ness with a face on the verge of laughter, and said to him in yet another cocky tone "What are you going to do? Hit me with more of your toys?" Ness just softly snickered in response, and then shouted the phrase "PK Fire!" A confused Bowser was immediately hit with a small bolt of psychic energy, one that soon exploded into a large amount of flames, which he was almost completely engulfed in. The Koopa roared in pain once more, taking a few steps back as he did.

Ness took a few steps back as well, and began preparing for his next attack. As soon as the flames had pretty much dispersed, Ness launched his next attack, after shouting the words "PK Flash!" 

Bowser was yet again unprepared for an attack. Green energy sped toward him, and soon made contact, spreading throughout his body, giving him a very uncomfortable and almost unbearable jolt. Ness quickly did a flip over Bowser's head, and pulled out a baseball bat. As he was landing, he cracked the bat over Bowser's head. This caused his eyes to bulge a bit, and combined with the green energy still coursing through his veins, caused him to fall to the ground in pain. 

Ness then jumped up to a platform a few feet away from Bowser. Once he landed, he began charging for his next attack, the "PK Thunder." As he charged, he watched a very sore Bowser slowly stand up, and turn toward him. He watched as he looked directly at him, then launch flames from his mouth, which were aimed at the space under the platform. This confused Ness at first, until he remembered that this platform was being supported only by an odd pink tentacle, which Bowser had probably just burned up. 

His worst fear was confirmed when the platform he was standing on began falling away from the main platform, and into the acid. He wanted to jump off, but was paralyzed because of his charging for his attack. He and the platform quickly descended into the acid, and were quickly immersed and eaten up in it. 

Bowser watched as Ness fell, and relieved, turned around and walked into the newly appeared telepad. When he arrived at the stadium, he was rushed off to the hospital wing (where Mewtwo still was) on a larger than normal stretcher. 

A disappointed and very nervous Luigi stared continually at the screen, where the words "Bowser Wins!" continually flashed across the screen. He momentarily broke away from his gaze to look over at his gentle looking opponent, who was sharpening his blade and talking to some odd brown creature. 

He would have to give it all he had if he wanted to win the next battle…


	8. Luigi vs Isaac

__

Author's Note: Well, it's been exactly one year since I last updated. And it was two years ago that I published this damn story. My how time flies. I'd be surprised if any of the old readers still paid attention to see if this thing was alive, heh. In any case, here's the next chapter. I'm hoping to update more frequently at least until school starts up again, so I guess you can try to look forward to that. Enjoy.

Luigi did not know what to expect in the coming battle. He had fought against many foes in the past and defeated nearly all of them but he almost always had the assistance of his brother, Mario. And now he was gone. So was Yoshi, one of his best friends in the world, and Peach, the young woman he and his brother had gotten along with so well and rescued so many times for reasons no more than friendship. It looked as though he was the only one left to carry on the Mario legacy.

Sure there was his distant relative Dr. Mario, but the two of them had never gotten along. The same went for Daisy. He would talk to her once in a while when at parties and cart races, but he hadn't known her long enough to really form a bond with her. So all things considered, he was on his own now.

So why fight? Why even bother trying to survive the upcoming fight? His opponent probably had friends and family to return to and things to live for. Luigi felt as though he had none. So why should he live and have his opponent die?

A violet wire frame creature announced the next battle. "Luigi and Isaac must now report to the telepads for the upcoming battle!"

Luigi trudged his way up the steps to the center podium and glanced over at his opponent who gave a nod of respect when they locked eyes. At least it seemed that he was an honorable young man.

Luigi took his place on the telepads at the same time his opponent did. He scanned the crowd, which was staring intently towards the two warriors preparing to be departed to their battle location. He closed his eyes and a moment later he and his foe were gone.

When he opened his eyes he looked about the place he was fighting at. He knew that he was to be fighting at a simulation of Princess Peach's Castle, but he had no idea how realistic it would be. Everything he remembered about the place was there; the beautiful architecture of the central tower, the footprints of Yoshi in the brickwork, the mountains in the distance…

Those mountains were very significant to Luigi. He remembered that not even two nights before this chaos began he was standing on this castle as he did now with his brother, admiring the way the fog danced about those landmarks in a truly captivating way and how the serene waterfalls ran through them in such a peaceful manner. Even now he could smell the beautiful aroma that the fog produced from its far away location.

Out of the corner of his eye, Luigi noticed the swordsman he was to fight coming over the central tower of the castle with his sword held vertically above his head. Luigi had been so caught up in his memories that he hadn't noticed the fight had begun.

Thinking quickly the plumber rolled out of the way of the slash the young swordsman had just made with his silver blade. Thinking he had avoided the moment's danger Luigi took the time to try and stand up in order to execute his counter attack. However, Isaac wasn't as off guard as Luigi had hoped. The young swordsman quickly slid his blade across the surface of the castle top, tearing up bricks as he did so, and used the blunt side of his sword to strike Luigi's chest, causing the plumber in green garments to fly backwards at a high speed. His flight was stopped abruptly when he smashed into the unforgiving central tower behind him.

Although he had many aches throughout his body, the plumber stood up and faced Isaac, who had his sword pointed horizontally at Luigi as if he meant to thrust it at the plumber. And Luigi was almost ready to let it happen out of despair when finally his depression was replaced with determination. In just a moment something changed him from a man wishing for death to a warrior longing to avenge his fallen comrades. He did not know why it happened exactly, but he guessed it had something to do with the fact he was in someplace that at least resembled his homeland and the spirit of the place had gotten to him as he was tossed around on it. This was his and his friends' turf and he would win this battle and the tournament then rescue them from their perverse prison of trophies.

Isaac could see the sudden change in Luigi's eyes and it caused him to hesitate, which proved to be a horrible mistake. Luigi took advantage of the swordsman's pause and launched his attack. He drew back his right arm to gather energy then quickly thrust it forward toward his foe and launched a green sphere of flame at him. It was too quick for the swordsman to dodge and he didn't have time to try and block it with his blade so he ended up taking the full blunt of the attack.

As expected the attack was extremely unpleasant for the young Isaac. The fireball had connected with and dispersed on the young man's face, causing him to be partially blind for at least a few moments. As he dropped his sword and clutched his face in pain, Luigi executed his next attack.

He crouched down to gather energy once more before launching the attack. Once enough was built up he unleashed it in the form of a blast of energy at his feet, using it to propel himself forward at his enemy horizontally with his flaming head pointing towards the young man.

The attack was very powerful and once again Isaac felt the full effect of it. Luigi collided with Isaac at an extremely high speed and caused the young swordsman to fly uncontrollably through the air and land hard on the edge of the castle. And if it weren't for the large metal poles holding up wavy red flags he probably would have slipped right off of the castle and into the moat below.

Isaac finally managed to regain his composure due to the fact Luigi needed a few moments to regain his after that last attack. Although one of his eyes were burned shut and his entire face felt as though it was being held in a fire Isaac managed to stand and face Luigi once more to attack.

The two looked each other in the eyes for a few moments as each tried to figure out what to do next. Luigi was the first to move and he did so quickly, running toward his opponent with his arms flailing behind him. Isaac, who was only about ten yards away, had to react quickly.

Speaking for the first time, the young swordsman shouted, "I call upon the power of the Earth! Spire!" As he shouted the words he thrust his arms into the air as if calling upon some greater force. The attack came swiftly in the form of a large cone shaped stone pillar that had just materialized in and fallen from the sky.

Luigi didn't notice the large piece of matter until it was too late. Although he managed to dodge the deadly point of it the side of the object still struck Luigi in his ribs and crumbled right next to him, causing chunks of stone to bombard him from behind.

After the last attack both fighters were quite weakened and had little energy left to fight with. As the two prepared to launch what would probably be the last of their attacks an unexpected object began rushing toward them from the sky. As a large shadow covered them, the two fighters looked up at the sky in unison to see a gigantic black bullet racing toward them with what looked like a sinister grin on the front of it.

"Bullet Bill," Luigi muttered to himself in horror just moments before it hit.

Neither of them had time to avoid the enormous object. Instead they tried in what seemed like futility to guard themselves from its impact. As it drilled into the ground between them it began to glow a bright red color. Seconds later it let off an enormous blast of tremendous heat and explosive force.

The castle they stood on felt the impact just as much as they, with bricks and other scraps of the building being dematerialized by the flame and thrust outwards from the impact of the explosion as the entire structure shook uncontrollably as if it would collapse in on itself at any moment. After the explosion had finished and the smoke had cleared the effects of the devastating blow were obvious. A giant crater replaced what used to be the central tower of the castle and all around it were torn up bricks and scorched surface.

On one side of the crater lied a lifeless Luigi in a position that would be impossible for one to put their self into without being injured greatly. On the other was a standing Isaac with an almost transparent brown barrier about him.

"Thank you my friend," he said softly to a brown almost sphere-like creature that floated around him. His friend, a Djinni of the Earth, had managed to save his life by forming a protective barrier about him when the explosion occurred and he was summoned. If it had not been for that creature there would most likely be two dead warriors on this scene.

Isaac limped his way over to the telepad that had just appeared a few yards away from him and was teleported back to the stadium where he of course went to receive immediate medical attention. This meant that the first half of round one of this bizarre tournament was almost over…

Luigi stared into the familiar sky of the Toadstool kingdom as darkness slowly swallowed him. This was the end. He had failed his friends and his kingdom. He would not be able to avenge them after all. He could only hope that the winner of the tournament would free his soul and the soul of his friends so that they would be free and together once more.

After taking one last look at the waterfalls he loved so much, Luigi slowly closed his eyes and allowed himself to be pulled into his dark home in oblivion.


	9. Ganondorf vs Roy

"The next battle will be between Roy and Ganondorf. Report to the telepads immediately."

The two combatants were already making their way through the crowd of warriors before the announcement was even made. It wasn't that they were already used to the way things were; it was just that both burned with anticipation for a good fight.

Ganondorf towered over his potential opponents as he shoved them aside to make a path to the telepads. Every few seconds he would let off a cocky snicker and throw his flowing black cape to his back. He hadn't had a good fight since he was last sealed away by the young Link, who was among the crowd. He knew that if he could slay his next few opponents, he would finally get his chance to exact his revenge on the young swordsman in a realm with no help from sages or anything of the like. The upcoming match looked like more of a warm-up match than anything to him, as it was against another young swordsman. Ganondorf stepped up onto the telepad and closed his eyes, waiting for transport.

Roy was just as pumped for the next battle as his menacing opponent. Even though he had no vendettas to settle in the later rounds of the tournament, he still looked forward to upcoming matches to hone his skills as a swordsman and prove to his disturbed kidnapper he was a plenty worthy warrior. As he politely made his way through the crowd toward the telepads, he felt a hand grip his arm. Looking over, he noticed that it was the swordsman wearing a green tunic that had defeated the bounty hunter earlier in the tournament.

"Hey," the swordsman began, "I just wanted to warn you that head on sword attacks probably won't work on this guy. I've fought him plenty of times before; he knows how to stop a blade. Just... be original."

Roy cracked a slight smile, nodded and made his way to the telepads that would transport him to his battle location.

Compared to the locations that had been fought at earlier in the tournament, Emerald Hill was rather dull. While it had plenty of beauty in the form of grass swaying in the wind and minor hills here and there, there were no features that could really be used to the advantage of either warrior. This would be a battle of raw skill.

The countdown flashed and ended, and both of the warriors remained where they were teleported. After a few moments of sizing each other up, Roy took the initiative to make the first move. He leaned close to the ground before him, drew his sword, and began a mad dash for his muscular foe. An instant before he reached his target he slashed his blade forward, in the hope of making a clean slice across the torso. But he had no such luck.

Ganondorf raised his arm and blocked its path, causing only minor damage to his forearm. Using his other arm, he quickly threw his fist into the swordsman's face, causing the young man to stumble backward a few steps and lose his composure. Taking advantage of the opening, Ganondorf wrapped his warms around his opponent, squeezed tightly, and began sending an electric current throughout his foe's body. After smiling in satisfaction at the swordsman's painful cry, he kicked off the young man, smashing him into the ground.

Ten seconds had yet to pass, and already Roy was barely able to stand. This was not a good sign. But summoning all the strength he could, he rose to his feet as his foe landed gracefully about twenty feet away. He thought about another all out blade attack, but remembered the advice the other swordsman had given him before the fight, and decided against it. Instead he waited for his opponent to charge him before making a move.

Ganondorf was running wildly at his opponent, cocky after his previous onslaught. When he was about to reach Roy, he summoned the magical energy around him and began a sliding kick forward. Roy noticed the sudden position change, and leaped forward, managing to let his enemy slide completely past him. Roy landed and was able to turn around as Ganondorf regained his composure and stood back up, and used the opportunity to strike. He pulled his sword back as far as he could over his shoulder, and thrust it forward with all his force. The blade connected with Ganondorf's back, slicing it open and causing the massive warrior to be tossed forward like a rag doll.

Ganondorf landed hard on the ground before him, but he immediately regained composure and began rising to his feet. However, he was not quick enough because before he was able to fully turn around Roy was already landing a series of sword slashes, slices, and stabs on his foe. The onslaught progressed until Roy was rapidly stabbing at Ganondorf's legs, creating a new wound with each thrust. In response, even though it caused him great pain, Ganondorf managed to kick his leg upward with enough force to catch Roy under the jaw, immediately ending the bombardment.

As a follow up to his previous attack, Ganondorf used some more of his magical energy to throw an enchanted punch at Roy as he was flying upwards in the air. The punch caused the swordsman to fly backward once more, eating dirt as he slid across the grassy surface. Ganondorf threw his now torn up cape to his side and let out a soft cackle at his small success.

Roy stood as quickly as he could, spitting out dirt on the rise. He did not expect such a powerful counterattack to his bombardment. The experienced swordsman from back at the stadium was quite correct, any head on sword attacks ended up ineffective and harmful to oneself against this foe. Roy knew he would need to use a more defensive strategy if he hoped to come out of this alive.

Ganondorf remained in his position hoping that his adversary would make the next move, but had no such luck. So instead of patiently waiting, he ran forward once more fist drawn back. Roy was sure that this was an upper body attack, and prepared himself as such. However, Ganondorf was cleverer than he let on. Instead of releasing the punch Roy expected, he once again charged his magical energy into a sliding kick, this time catching the swordsman off guard. The magical energy propelled Ganondorf forward and was immediately transferred into the young Roy in a blast of energy that caused him to once again go soaring through the air only to meet with solid ground when he landed.

Ganondorf let out another cackle, much louder this time, and prepared to finish this duel. He began to slowly walk toward his opponent, channeling immense amounts of magical energy into his right fist as he moved. He knew in his mind that when this punch connected, his weakened foe would have no chance of survival.

Roy on the other hand had no such confidence. He was barely able to stand after that last surprise attack, and when he finally managed to he swayed from side to side and almost dropped his blade. He could easily see Ganondorf moving toward him with a glowing fist and smirk across his dark face, but was too weak to take any evasive action.

Ganondorf moved into punching range and brought his fist backward, gathering more energy in the process. The weakened Roy saw the glow around his foe's fist get more intense, but did nothing to stop it. A moment later Ganondorf let out a yell and threw his fist straight at Roy's chest. But in a surprisingly hasty reaction, Roy brought his blade up to the level of his torso, holding it at a downward angle as the charged fist connected with it. But instead of just driving the blade into Roy's body as one would have expected, the fist abruptly stopped its forward motion and all of the magical energy surrounding it was transferred into the sword. Ganondorf was caught completely off guard by this and all he could do was let his eyes bulge as Roy swung his now charged sword around and slash it across the wizard's torso. The magical energy that had been in Ganondorf's fist just moments before was now exploding immediately before him in a blast with intensity he had never before felt. There was nothing he could do as the blast launched him at an impossible speed off into the horizon.

Roy watched his foe disappear, and fell to his knees as a telepad appeared under him to bring him back to the stadium he started out in. As he caught his breath he looked up at the audience now before him, who all had amazed looks on their faces. Nobody expected the swordsman to conquer the infamous wizard in the first place, yet alone with such a novel attack. Link was especially impressed as he ran right up to the beaten up swordsman to pat him on the back.

As Link helped Roy come down from the stage after refusing treatment by "shoddy figures," a wire frame approached the microphone, presumable to announce the next match. But instead, he delivered a rather surprising message. "Well now, wasn't that an exciting first half of the round? That's what all of you who haven't fought yet have to look forward to! And to those of you who have won your matches already, congratulations. Now, in order to prevent any mishaps from occurring, we have provided transportation for you back to the hotels you originally were situated at. You will be able to enjoy the evening there and get some rest before you must return bright and early tomorrow morning. As for the rest of you, it is time to watch Dr. Mario and Zelda have at each other!"


	10. A Break In the Action?

"An old rusty truck with a rickety wooden trailer? That's our transportation back the hotel? Is this some kind of joke?"

Falco's words summed up how all of the round one champions felt about what was sitting in front of them. Not even hours before they had been suffering from severe injury while they fought to survive, and now they had to ride on an old truck with an overly large bed through a massive desert before they were able to attain their well-earned rest.

"Okay, this makes no sense," Captain Falcon began to say with his usual cocky tone. "That freaky hand thing can teleport us to places he created that look exactly like our homes, but the only way we can get through a desert on this planet is to ride some piece of crap truck?"

The others nodded in unison with this observation, but the wire frame that appeared to be the driver had an explanation ready. "Ah, but you are mistaken there. The telepads don't actually bring you anywhere. Rather, they keep you in the stadium, but in another reality, where the stadium has an altered appearance suitable for fighting. Quite amazing, really."

"So why the hell hasn't he developed anything better than a rusty truck for this reality?" Falcon continued, cocky as ever.

"Well look at it this way. You have to get to the hotel. To do that you must cross the desert. If you'd rather walk, be my guest." These words ended the cocky remarks.

The wire frame climbed into the cab of the truck, next to another but much larger wire frame, and motioned for the warriors to climb into the back. Captain Falcon and Falco pushed their way in first, followed by the massive Bowser. The four swordsmen climbed in next, followed by Mewtwo, who floated silently to where he would sit. After all eight warriors were seated (comfort was not an issue, as it was impossible to achieve in a wooden truck bed) the wire frame slowly started up the old truck and began to drive out of a small opening in the side of the stadium.

The fighters remained silent for most of the trip. Not only were they all worn from battle, they were all from their own worlds and had no idea how to talk to anyone else there. The only thing that united them was this tournament they had been dragged into against their will. However, that is what ended up breaking the silence.

"So did you all see how I slaughtered that princess?" Falco proudly said out of nowhere near the end of the trip.

Captain Falcon, who was not one to miss the opportunity to brag, quickly piped up in response. "Ooh…good job birdman. You beat up a girl. Real tough guy aren't ya? I think I'm the one who should be proud here. See the way I took out her boyfriend? That midget didn't stand a chance!"

"Are you serious?" roared Bowser. "He almost killed you! If it weren't for a stroke of luck in finding that bat you would have been done for!"

"Hah, what's wrong Godzilla? Did that plumber beat you up before?"

"Why you…" Bowser began to stand, but as he shot small flames out of his nose and was moving forward in his spot on the bed, he was slammed right back into side he had just been leaning against."

All eyes turned to Mewtwo, who was sitting with his arms crossed and eyes closed. Sensing he had just drawn attention to himself, he spoke up in a deep and troubling voice. "If you would have stood up, this truck would have flipped and we would be eating dirt. I stopped that."

Everyone was a bit taken aback by the extremely quick and unexpected reflex by Mewtwo, and remained silent for a few moments.

"So yeah," Falcon said, breaking the silence, "I pretty much rocked that fight. That plumber was dead before I threw my first punch."

"Guys!" a young adult voice shouted from the corner of the truck. All eyes turned to Link. "You're talking about killing other people just like us. Heroes who were dragged into this just like you were. How can you be proud of killing them?"

Falcon just snickered and looked away, ending the conversation.

The sun had begun to set even before the truck had left the stadium. Now that it had been driving through a seemingly endless desert filled with polygon guardians for well over an hour, the light had mostly faded and the sun had pretty much disappeared beyond the horizon. It was then that the warriors noticed that the path the polygon creatures had been making before them the entire trip begin to grow narrower and narrower. It also seemed as though the truck was driving much faster than before.

Roy, who was still sore after his recent battle, knocked on the rear window of the truck cab. After it was opened by the large wire frame in the passenger seat Roy nervously said "Is it just us, or have you noticed the polygon things closing in on us?"

The wire frame who was driving hurriedly responded, saying "Yes, yes, I've noticed them. I told Master not to let these things live. I warned him that you all wouldn't get off this planet anyways. But no…he let all of the rogue polygons loose on this desert." The driver swerved to avoid a small round polygon creature that had just jumped in the middle of the truck's path, causing the warriors to smash into each other on one side of the truck bed.

"What do you mean? Aren't these his loyal followers like you?" asked Crono, speaking for the first time as he ducked to avoid a polygon creature lunging at his face.

"No…well…they used to be. But as they grew in number he couldn't control them all anymore. They aren't all that intelligent but they sure can fight. Anyway, Master lost control of them. They wouldn't follow his orders anymore; they just wanted to destroy anything in their way. That's why he put them out in this desert; to prevent anyone from escaping the stadium. And during the day they're fine, and will even refrain from attacking us superior wire frames. However, once night falls, they get rebellious for whatever reason. Attack anything that moves, including us. They tend to stay away from the stadium, but even that isn't safe half the time. Anyway, the hotel's right up ahead, if we can just make it there we'll…" The sound of shattering glass cut the wire frame off and immediately after the truck swerved out of control.

The fighters looked toward the cab and saw a polygon creature with its sharp arm stuck through the windshield of the truck and its now lifeless driver. A moment later the truck crashed into a group of polygon creatures and rolled, throwing the fighters out into the crowd as it did so. None had time to just lie around where they landed either, for the polygon creatures began their assault as soon as the warriors hit the ground.

Bowser, being the biggest target, was the first to receive damage. Not even a second after hitting the ground his right leg was stabbed by a long purple polygon limb. Letting out a roar of pain he began flailing his arms and shell about, knocking over and immobilizing several polygon creatures in the process. To further release his anger from being stabbed, he grabbed a few of the creatures at a time and bit into them, tearing them in half.

As Bowser tore into his attackers, the other warriors were busy with their own fights. Falco was busy picking the polygon creatures off with his laser blaster. Mewtwo was busy using his psychic powers to throw them all around, all the while maintaining a personal barrier for protection. Falcon let fiery punches and kicks off in every direction, sending creatures down to eat dirt every second. Link and Roy had landed next to each other and had their backs to each other as they slashed at random foes, even if it pained Roy to do so with his unhealed injuries. Isaac and Crono also fought off the endless onslaught with their blades, cutting down on their enemies as they closed in.

After about ten minutes of defending themselves, the heroes were backed into a circle surrounded by the polygon creatures. The hotel wasn't far off and it was probably the only nearby place they would be safe, so it seemed a safe bet to get over to it as soon as possible.

"Guys, we need to get over to that hotel," Link said as he cut down a hulking polygon before him. "We'll need to work together to do it."

"And just what do you suggest, hero boy?" Falcon mockingly asked.

"I have a plan," Mewtwo said. With that, he tapped into his fellow warriors' minds, detailing a strategy he had been devising. It was good to have a psychic warrior present in situations like these. After a few moments, everyone nodded in unison and took action.

Bowser faced the hotel and took a deep breath. A moment later he let it all out in the form of a stream of fire, torching polygon creatures for a very good distance in front of him. Falcon and Falco then began to charge themselves for their fire attacks, and launched themselves into Bowser's breath to get even more energy. After a few seconds of this, they took off forward to eliminate more creatures. As the fire from Bowser's mouth died down, the four swordsmen ran through the newly opened path taking out stragglers that were lucky enough not to be ashes at the moment, followed closely by a wheezing Bowser. Mewtwo floated behind, facing the opposite direction and trying to maintain a wall of psychic energy so that the group couldn't be pursued.

At last the group of warriors passed through the hotel gate, which was immediately slammed shut by Mewtwo. Everyone collapsed to catch their breath and try to let what just occurred sink in. As they were doing so, a familiar figure approached them. They looked up to see the same wire frame that had been sitting in the passenger seat of the truck towering over them.

Seemingly in response to the confused looks that had spread across all of their faces, the wire frame spoke up. "Congratulations, you have passed the Master's test with flying colors. Good work."

"What?" Falco shouted. "That was a test? We were almost killed over a test? Isn't almost dying in a tournament enough for that freak of nature?"

"The Master wants to be sure that whoever he fights is worthy to challenge him. Such a thing requires tests beyond the tournament. You have all done well; much better than those at the stadium fared. You're all still alive after all. Clearly you are the superior half of the warriors on this planet."

"Wait," Link said, "you mean the stadium got attacked by these things too? With Zelda in it? Is she okay? Tell me!"

"You will find out tomorrow who made it and who didn't."

Link was about to speak up again, but was cut off by the enormous wire frame.

"If you wish to go through the night without anymore threats on your life, I recommend you stop asking questions. Now then, I will show you to your rooms."


End file.
